m to come
to England, and received him in his house in Queen Anne-street, where he
soon procured him employment; he already numbered Mr., afterwards Sir
Joshua, Reynolds amongst his friends; and his correspondence with Barry
might almost be considered a young painter's manual, so full is it of
the better parts of taste, wisdom, and knowledge.

Mr. Burke was then on the threshold of Parliament, Lord Verney arranging
for his _debut_ as member for Wendover, in Buckinghamshire, under the
Rockingham administration; another star was added to the galaxy of that
brilliant assembly, and if we had space it could not be devoted to a
better purpose than to trace his glorious career in the senate; but that
is before all who read the history of the period, and we prefer to
follow his footsteps in the under current of private life.

He was too successful to escape the poisoned arrows of envy, or the
misrepresentations of the disappointed. Certain persons exclaimed
against his want of consistency, and gave as a reason that at one
period he commanded the spirit of liberty with which the French
Revolution commenced, and after a time turned away in horror and disgust
from a people who made murder a pastime, and converted Paris into a
shambles for human flesh.

But nothing could permanently obscure the fame of the eloquent Irishman,
he continued to act with such worthiness, that, despite his schism with
Charles James Fox, "the people" did him the justice to believe, that in
his public conduct, he had no one view but the public good.

He outlived calumny, uniting unto genius diligence, and unto diligence
patience, and unto patience enthusiasm, and to these, deep-hearted
enthusiasm, with a knowledge, not only, it would seem, of all things,
but of such ready application, that in illustration or argument his
resources were boundless; the wisdom of the Ancients was as familiar to
him as the improved state of modern politics, science, and laws; the
metaphysics and logic of the Schools were to him as household words, and
his memory was gemmed with whatever was most valuable in poetry,
history, and the arts.

[Illustration: GREGORIES.]

After much toil, and the lapse of some time, he purchased a domain in
Buckinghamshire, called "Gregories;" there, whenever his public duties
gave him leisure, he enjoyed the repose so necessary to an overtaxed
brain; and from Gregories some of his most interesting letters are
dated.[3] Those addressed to the